Stripes: Avengers Edition
by Sage Nicholson
Summary: In AU world not unlike our own, 5 young, soon to be extraordinary men decided to enlist in the US Army. What happens when the Avengers are a simple squad sent to serve in Afghanistan? This story is being co-written by Rasi10 and Sage Nicholson.
1. Chapter 1

**Hi everybody!**

 **Everbody: "Hi Dr. Nicholson!"**

 **Haha, so nice to see y'all again. Wow, I am just super busy lately. So, this will be my first time writing an Avengers fic, or an AU of this magnitude, so I'm a little out of my depth here. Luckily, I'm not in this alone. This story is a collaboration with Rasi10. One of us writes a chapter and the other reviews and edits it. So the first chapter will be written by me, the second by her, so on and so forth. As such don't expect a very consistent update schedule, although we'll try our best** **. Rasi has also published a version of this story, it can be found on Wattpad.**

 **So the premise: What if the Avengers didn't start out as an elite team of super-heroes, but just a group of everyday schlubs in the army? How did we come up with this batty idea for an AU? Don't ask me, I haven't got the foggiest idea. But we did, and we've written the first two chapters in advance, to give you a taste of both our styles. I hope y'all enjoy!**

 **The chapter below was written by me and edited by Rasi10:**

* * *

All his life, Tony had been told he was going to do great things when he grew up. And why wouldn't he? After all, how many four year olds do you know that have assembled their own motherboard? His parents were so proud of him.

Then, Tony disassembled his father's old motorcycle when he was 6 and reassembled it in his father's garage with no help. Now his parents were sure he was going to be a brilliant engineer, just like his dad.

So at 17, Tony was sent off to MIT to get an engineering degree. He passed with flying colors, Valedictorian of his class. He also roomed with a young man named James Rhodes, better known as Rhodey. Rhodey became Tony's first friend.

Tony Stark was going to do great things. The problem was, he didn't know what great things to do. His second best friend, Pepper Potts, knew what she was going to do; she was going to work as an engineer for Stane Industries. Tony would have known this, if he'd paid more attention to her. He would have also known she thought of him as more than just a best friend.

But Tony was too busy wondering what great things he should do with his life. He didn't want to work for a company, like Pepper. It seemed... boring. Rhodey's career choice, however, wasn't boring at all. Rhodey was joining the air force. And to Tony, this sounded like a great idea. After all, his dad had served in the army, in Vietnam. He'd be proud of his son's enlistment.

He wasn't. Mr. and Mrs. Stark wanted their son to do great things. They didn't want him to risk his life overseas in a job that had so few benefits. But Tony had made up his mind, and when he did that there was no changing it back. So despite his parent's pleading, Tony enlisted as a private, packed his bags and headed off to a basic training facility in Maryland.

* * *

Tony ambled to his new home, a barrack at the far end of the camp. He was wearing his new army uniform, which had been given to him when he entered, along with an unwanted haircut and a shave. Tony was pretty upset about the shave. He'd spent the last few years meticulously grooming that goatee to perfection, and now it was gone.

The barracks were clean and barren; rows and rows of bunk beds and drawers underneath said beds. Tony thought he was the first to arrive, until he saw a man in the corner unpacking his roll in a corner. He was older, as evidenced by his greying hair and lightly wrinkled face. Like all the other recruits he'd been given a buzz cut, but his curls had remained intact.

When he saw Tony the man walked over with a nervous smile. "Hey. Hi. Doctor Bruce Banner." he stuttered a little as he introduced himself, and held out a nervous hand.

"Nice to meet you Dr. Banner. I've read one of your papers on gamma radiation. Good stuff." Tony replied, shaking his hand. Banner had a weak grip and a strong tremor. Tony briefly wondered what a nervous, shy intellectual type was doing in basic training.

"Please," the doctor responded, "Call me Bruce. And thank you." Bruce went back to making his bed, a bit more at ease then he'd been before. Tony, being a friendly type, decided to take the bunk above him. They began making scientific small talk, Bruce began opening up.

"So, Bruce. What made you quit your job and enlist? Sudden bout of patriotism?" Tony asked jokingly. Instantly Bruce clamped up again. His expression became more guarded as he looked up at the perplexed younger man.

"Um w-well, you know..." he mumbled. Tony didn't think he did, but Bruce refused to elaborate more. This seemingly innocent question had made him very uncomfortable, Tony could tell. In a strange bout of tact, he decided not to press further.

* * *

The uncomfortable silence continued for a few more minutes, until the next member of their squad arrived, much to Tony's relief.

"Steve Rogers. Pleasure to meet you." said the new man politely. He held his hand up for Tony to shake. And yeah, I mean up. Tony may have been on the tall side, but Steve Rogers was tiny. Tony figured him at 5'6. And he was skinny too. His uniform swam on him. Once again, Tony wondered what had made another clearly unathletic person decide to enter this rigorous program.

He was pulled by his thoughts by Steve asking him and Banner for their names. Unlike the doctor, Steve seemed quite friendly, if not at ease. He made polite small talk with the other two while he made his bed.

"Why'd you join?" Bruce asked the newcomer.

"Why'd I join? Well, I guess I just wanted to do some good. Help the country. My buddy Bucky joined up last year. I was going to be with him, but my asthma got me held back." Steve gave a "what can you do" shrug. "I'm on stronger medication now, so I should be fine." Steve did his best to look confident in that statement, and Tony realized just how pale and sickly this guy looked. He'd figured it was just his complexion, he was quite blonde, but no, Steve was definitely pallid. His nose was a bit runny too, and his voice sore like he'd just recovered from a nasty cold. Despite this, his blue eyes were bright and clear, and his friendly smile genuine.

"Well, great to have you on the squad, Steve." Tony replied.

* * *

Another man arrived a few minutes later, swinging the door with enough force to knock it full open. At first, Tony didn't recognize him, what with his hair in the same military regulation as everyone else, but he soon realized he'd seen this guy before. This giant had asked for directions when he'd first arrived. Of course, he'd had a grizzly beard and long blonde hair back then.

"Hello!" the man called out enthusiastically, waving to his new squadmates. He shook Tony's hand while introducing himself, and Tony inwardly winced at the strength of his grip.

"Name's Thor Errikson." he proclaimed proudly, with a slight midwestern accent.

"Like, the God of Thunder?" Bruce asked, confused.

Tony sniggered. "It doth me pleasure to meet thou, Mighty Thor!" He said, bowing dramatically.

"Thor" didn't seem to notice Tony was making fun of him. "My real name is Chris, but all my buddies on the football team called me that. I like you guys to do it too."

Tony shrugged. "Well, nice to meet you Thor. This is Bruce - he's shy- and Steve." Steve began making small talk with Thor as fifth and final members of their group walked in. He introduced himself as Clint Barton, and when Tony shook his hand he saw Clint had a wedding ring.

"We eloped right before I enlisted, Laura and I," Clint explained when Tony asked. "You should've seen the look on her face when I gave her that ring." he said, smiling fondly.

It was at that point the drill sergeant walked in. Tony's previous army experience had come from watching "M.A.S.H." and "Stripes", and he expected the Drill Sergeant to be a big, angry looking older man who would come in yelling "A'right ladies! Drop and give me twenty! Go! Go! Go!" at the top of his lungs. He certainly didn't expect Sergeant Phil Coulson.

Phil was in shape, and he was older, but he wasn't very big or angry. He seemed less like a member of the armed forces and more like a kindly bachelor uncle who always brings candy when he visits.

"Hello, Men. I've see you've gotten yourselves acquainted with one another." he didn't sound like a drill sergeant either. His voice was soft, his manner polite, yet formal.

"Finish unpacking quickly. We're marching over to the main hall for Colonel Fury's orientation at 1500 hours."

"Um, hey, Sergeant Coulson?" Tony raised his hand like a little kid in a classroom.

"That's Sergeant Coulson Sir, Private." Coulson replied.

"Well, Sergeant Coulson Sir, what if we don't wanna go to orientation? What if we want to go into town and pick up girls instead?" Tony could hear the others snickering behind him.

The Sergeant's gaze was one of power and authority. "The meeting's mandatory, Private. Unless you want to clean every bathroom here with a toothbrush for insubordination."

"Yes sir!" Tony responded, jumping to attention and giving a mock salute.

"And that's a hundred pushups already Private. On the ground."

"Wh-what?! You can't- you can't make me..." Tony stuttered in indignation.

"Sure I can. I'm your sergeant, and I demand respect. On. The ground. Private."

Tony was going to hate Sergeant Coulson. he could tell.

* * *

 **So, what do you think? Good? Bad? Do the character changes we made make sense to you? Please review, I appreciate constructive criticism. Don't mince words.**


	2. Chapter 2

**I promised y'all a two-in-one, so here's chapter 2!**

 **This chapter was written by Rasi10 and edited by Sage Nicholson:**

* * *

All the new recruits were seated in rows, mostly grouped in with their barrack mates, waiting for the Colonel to give the formal orientation speech to all the newbies. There was a uproar of parallel talks going in the auditorium.

Then entered Colonel Fury, looking regal with all his numerous stripes and badges. He was walking towards the podium to give the usual welcoming address. All the conversations stopped, waiting for the Colonel to start his speech.

Colonel Fury was an intimidating man with an eyepatch over his left eye and a lot of scars. "Our head is a pirate." whispered Tony to Clint, who gave a small snicker, causing Steve to send them a small frown and a disapproving stare.

"Silence!" Fury ordered as the chatter started up again. "First of all, I welcome all you young new recruits to the training camp, on the way to become the future soldiers of the country. Some of you may be here because of your parents forced you to join, some maybe because for your own reasons, maybe because of patriotism, I don't care. You are all here now." Colonel Fury stated as he looked around at the everyone who listened in rapt attention.

"I will be frank with you all. These days at training will not be easy at all. The years ahead of you, however long you will serve will be some of the most crucial years of your life. This will be your home, your barrack mates and squadron are your family and must have each other's backs." And the speech went on and then other officials gave their own speeches till it was almost dinner time and Fury took up the podium again.

"Your training starts from tomorrow so go to your assigned barracks and get to know each other for today. But before that, some basic ground rules you must know. Lights off after 10 sharp and you are to be up by 5 for training. If you are late for anything, you will be punished. The rest will be announced tomorrow. Now disperse." the Colonel barked and the Privates obediently dispersed.

"Yeah. Blah blah blah" Tony said, rolling his eyes as they marched in unison to their barracks.

"I know that it was quiet a boring speech but we can't ignore it." commented Steve.

"Shut up and get back. Another word from you and that's 50 push ups each tomorrow as a punishment." Sergeant Coulson said, annoyed with the constant chatter going on around. "And Stark, don't forget about the push ups that you have to do tomorrow, right after breakfast." he reminded.

"Yes Sergeant Coulson Sir" Tony replied, a little moody at the reminder of his punishment. After settling down, the group wondered on what they were going to do for the remaining time till curfew. Each of them had their own answers of truth or dare (Steve totally refused), twenty questions ("Too boring" for Tony) and finally settle on playing a game of cards, a simple game of Old Maid, where the loser would've to answer a question asked to them.

The loser of the first round happened to be Thor. The rest put their heads together and decided that Bruce should ask the question. "So Thor... why do your friends call you 'Thor'?" he asked, a little curious.

"Well Banner, I was in the football team in high school and we were called the Vikings, I was the quarterback and so was nicknamed Thor. Before that I was called that by my family because once I short circuited the electricity when I was young." Thor said.

"Alright. Deal the next round" and the loser now turned out to be Bruce. Tony was the one who instantly asked the question. "So... Brucie, I am a great fan of your works and all but and I know you specialize in this radiation business. So what was your best discovery?" Tony asked curiously.

"Well... my best and worst discovery is the same and I don't want to talk about it." Bruce said firmly. The next one landed up on Tony. "So Tony, what is your home life like?" Clint asked. "Well... my parents wanted me to work for some company like a usual person, but I wanted to join the army like my friend and even though my dad was in the army, he didn't like the idea of me joining. We had a fight the day before I left." Tony said with a roll of his eyes.

The next day, all of them were woken up by continuous banging on the door, causing everyone to groan. Cint, however, had woken up before the wake up call and had decided that it would be funny if he pasted random things on the rest of his bunk mate's helmets, making them grumble all the time they tried to take it away when they noticed it. All in all, the other four of them were totally grumpy that morning and the training schedule did not help the mood for them.

Each day's monotonous training schedule consisted of one hour of laps, followed by push ups and pull ups for another half an hour after a small break for 5 minutes. Then everyone were allowed to go for breakfast (Tony of course had to do the fifty pushups just after eating.)

After that was two hours of learning about weapons and how to use them. It turned out that Clint was an incredible shot, Thor and, suprisingly enough scrawny Steve were good at hand to hand and timid Bruce was better as a medic/a back up soldier. Tony never particularly excelled at any training exercise, but he did assemble a taser from a couple of spare gun parts and a battery once. Plus, he greatly enjoyed hacking the base's computers and replacing their website with naughty pictures. This usually resulted in Coulson punishing him.

After that was a short lunch before they were assigned to learn some basic hand to hand combat and self defense. Then came another round of laps and push ups and other warm ups and were left free for the rest of the day, which was probably some about 2 hours before bed, including dinner.

The training courses got tougher as the days went by and everyone got busy. At first Clint (and, to a lesser extent, Tony) would constantly prank all his squad-mates, but one time he decided it would be a brilliant idea to tie Tony and Bruce's shoelaces together right before the obstacle course. It was not a brilliant idea, he discovered, as Tony and Bruce, who were in the back of their line, plowed right into Thor, who fell on top of Steve, who also downed Clint. Sergeant Coulson calmly stepped out of the way.

Bruce, quiet Bruce who never raised a voice to anyone, began to growl a guttural, animalistic growl. Tony quickly untied himself and scrambled away from the mad scientist. Bruce got to his feet, breathing heavily, his eyes bloodshot and his expression feral. The group stood there, uncertain about how to respond. After a few minutes, Bruce calmed down. He smiled awkwardly and nervously, then began to move across the obstacle course like nothing had happened. Eventually, his squad followed him, and mostly forgot about the incident over the next 9 weeks. Mostly. Clint was careful never to mess with Bruce again.

For two weeks no one, not even the athletic Thor, could complete the obstacle course in the allotted amount of time. It was honestly a miracle they were able to complete the mile long stretch of mud pits, climbing walls and haphazard obstacles at all, especially Steve, who would sometimes get asthma attacks in the middle of the course, and someone would have to run back and find him. Coulson began berating the privates for their shoddy performances and Tony, who still had a grudge on Coulson, challenged him to do it himself. Coulson accepted the challenge and completed the course with such ease and grace that he might have been one of those urban legend super soldier from WWII. He certainly was old enough, Tony thought.

During the 4th week of training, Clint got off the phone during calling hours and began to hug everyone in sight. His wife, Laura, had just told him she was pregnant. he was going to be a father!

As the weeks flew by everyone became a lot more comfortable around each other, Bruce started to open up more, Clint told them about his time at the circus, and even Steve, who had been, in Tony's opinion, a stick in the mud from day one, began to show the others his beautiful artwork. Tony had to admit, by graduation he felt he really close with all of them. He'd even developed a grudging respect for his Drill Seargent, not that Tony'd ever let him know that.

When Tony returned home, his mother doted over him, asking all about basic training, was it hard, was he hurt, all that sappy stuff. His father, however, did his best to ignore his son and give him the cold shoulder.

"Give him a little while." Maria said, "He's still upset."

While Tony was at home, he had the chance to catch up with Pepper and Rhodey, who coincidentally had a few days off. Pepper bragged about her promotions in Stane Industries, how she had been working personally with Obadiah Stane himself.

"He's very charming, but also secretive. He's got me working on some big project, very top secret so I don't know all the details."

He also got to reconnect with his lost love the internet and work on his inventions while listening to AC/DC. He'd had little time to be creative in basic training, but he'd come up with a great idea for a sustainable energy generator. He spent almost all of his time inside working on it. Sometime's Pepper would put her engineer's expertise to use and help out.

That was when he got curious about his bunkmates' lives and started browsing about them. After some impressive google-fu, he found something interesting about Bruce; in the past three years he had worked 5 jobs at different universities. Each time he'd left abruptly for unclear reasons. Tony wondered if this had something to do with that near forgotten incident during the first week.

He also found out about Thor's football history in school and was a little surprised at just how popular Steve's anonymous artwork was on the internet. He also got to know a bit of Clint's history in it and was impressed by the number of archery tournaments he'd won in school.

And then, just as Tony was preparing for Thankgiving and really settled back into his home life, he got a call from the Army; his squad was to be deployed next week, on their first tour, to Afghanistan.

* * *

 **And now, let the plot truly begin! Remember to tip your fanfiction writers! By which I mean review.**


	3. Chapter 3

**Okay, I'm back. Sorry, this chapter took a while and I've been super busy with school and sporking and whatnot.**

* * *

It was a brisk November day when Tony got the call to action. He was working in the basement with Pepper on their latest collaboration.

She stared doubtfully at the blueprints Tony had designed. "Transistors? Tony, I don't think that's right."

"Of course it's right!" he argued back, "What else can we use as a core?"

She rolled her eyes. "How about a palladium chip? The transistor's gravimetric charge isn't strong enough to harmonize with the aexonic pulse shaft, but a palladium core should be able to dispose of the tachyon shift."

Tony huffed. "What? No way. Trust me babe, I'm the genius here, I know what I'm talk about."

Pepper glared at Tony. "And I'm the MIT graduate who's already made her way to the top at one of the most powerful tech companies in the world. So don't act all high and mighty with me Stark." she said as she flipped her strawberry blonde hair for emphasis. Then, as an afterthought, she added "Don't call me 'babe' I'm not one of your sorority floozies."

"And military floozies. Don't forget the military floozies. Girls go crazy for a guy in uniform." he winked infuriatingly. "But seriously, you're totally wrong. I did the math, only the rhenium in the transistors has the right gravimetric charge." He showed her his work on the computer. She snatched it from him and began typing furiously. When the algorithms were processed she held up the screen to Tony triumphantly.

"Looks like your calculations were off, 'genius'!" Tony held up his hands in defeat.

"Okay, my bad, I was wrong, you were right. Forgive me?' he gave a guilty smile filled with his classic charm.

Pepper sighed. Sometimes she could really despise Tony Stark. Other times... well other times she wanted him to choke on his own ego. But there were still other times when she couldn't help but love him. Like the time they'd had a falling out in junior year, and he'd sent her a big box of chocolate strawberries as an apology. Granted, she was allergic to it, but he hadn't known that, so it was very thoughtful of him.

Or that other time, when he'd taken her to a fancy dance, she'd shown up all dolled up pretty and they'd shared a wonderful dance together... and then the clock struck 12 and he was off like a gender-reversed Cinderella, late for a frat party a few blocks down. So Pepper's feelings for Tony were complicated, to say the least.

"I can't stay mad at you, Tony. Not when we're this close to cracking this arc reactor thing. A new energy generator, one that's not only immensely powerful, but also ecologically friendly? We could win a Nobel Prize at 21!"

Tony grinned. He liked the idea of winning a Nobel. He also liked working with Pepper a whole lot. In fact, he just liked being around Pepper. He was about to respond with some witty repartee when the phone rang.

"Be back in a sec!" he said as he dashed up to the kitchen. "Hello, this is the Stark residence."

"I'd like to talk to Tony Stark, please." The call was for him? Who could be calling him with such a professional (and familiar) sounding voice?

"I'm Tony." he replied.

"This is Sergeant Coulson."

"Hey, Serge, how's it hanging?" Tony kept his tone light, but on his end of the line he was beginning to panic inside. There was only one reason why Coulson could be calling him.

"Unit 616 has it's orders. We're being deployed to an Afghanistan base. We ship out on Sunday."

"What? That's Thanksgiving!"

"I know, Private. Report to Fort Meade at 1400. From there we'll be heading to Afghanistan."

"I can't leave now!" Not while he was so close to finishing the arc reactor. Not now that he'd gotten so close to Pepper.

"You should've thought about that before you joined the army. Look, I'm sorry, I can't control when we leave. I just expect you to take it like the soldier I trained you to be. Understood?"

"Yes sir." Tony hung up the phone dejectedly and slowly walked downstairs.

When Pepper saw his grim expression she stood up. "What's wrong Tony?"

He just wrapped her in a hug.

* * *

Two days later he stood in uniform outside of Fort Meade, surrounded by his friends and family. He tried to stay strong, keep joking, put them and himself at ease, but deep in the pit of his stomach he could feel the nervousness.

His mother Maria hugged him tight. "Tony, sweetheart, please be careful! And call me whenever you can! And stay healthy. And-"

He cut her off. "Jeez, Mom, this is just like the first day at that nerd camp you sent me to!" he said jokingly. His light tone was a lie. He knew this was nothing like CTY.

Next he turned to Rhodey, who was supposed to be deployed soon himself. Rhodey punched him lightly in the arm. "Good luck, man. Try not to make your squad hate you more than the bad guys."

"Look, we're first tour soldiers guarding at a large base, we probably won't see anything but sand." That was another lie. Not the base part, but the not seeing any action one. Coulson had warned him that they most definitely would.

Pepper wasn't there that day because she had to work, much to Tony's disappointment, as well as her regret. Tony wished he could see again, he had so much to tell her...

But he couldn't, so instead he turned to say the goodbye he'd been dreading most, the one to his father, Howard. Tony looked at his stony face looming above him, the emotions so impossible to read, so similar in appearance and yet so different to his son. Tony had been expecting yelling, or cold silence, or for him to simply walk away. What Tony didn't expect was him to wrap his son in his arms and hold him like he hadn't since Tony was 10 years old, the time he had broken his ankle after climbing a tree, and Howard had stayed with him until the ambulance came.

Tony almost couldn't hold back the tears. He wanted to cry and hold onto his Dad like he had when he was little and yell that he didn't want to go like a toddler on their first day of pre-school. But he couldn't, he had responsibilities, he had to keep those doubts and fears inside and let this happen no matter how wrong he felt. For the first time, Tony really began to understand his father.

* * *

As his parents drove away, Tony spotted a familiar face in the crowd. It was Clint, passionately kissing a dark haired woman with a simple yet elegant ring. She didn't have a baby bump yet, but Tony knew it must be Laura.

"Clint! Hey Clint!" he called out, interrupting the sweet moment. Clint said something to Laura and then waved back.

"Tony! Come and meet the missus!"

Laura smiled at him when he came over. "So you're Tony. It's nice to meet you. Clint has talked about you so much."

Tony mock glared at Clint. "What did you tell her?"

Clint held up his hands. "Nothing, nothing at all! Um... Well I may or mar not have mentioned the pants incident." Clint caved in as Laura snickered.

"We swore to never speak of that again!" Tony huffed. Then he noticed another buddy in the crowd. Bruce stood with his bags, looking just a nervous and out of place as ever.

He waved goodbye to Clint and Laura. "I'll leave you and your missus to share some tender moments. Got something I need to ask somebody."

Tony walked over to Bruce and tapped him on the shoulder to get his attention.

"Brucie! Old buddy old pal, how's it going?" Bruce turned, startled.

"Oh! hi Tony. Didn't almost see you there."

Tony was never one for tact, so he decided to jump the gun and skip right over the pleasantries. "What's the deal with you getting fired all the time."

Bruce stared at him in shock. "I looked you up. Five jobs, five universities, five mysterious firings?"

The older man began to tremble. "L-listen, I-it's nothing, I-" Tony cut him off.

"Look, you don't have to tell me if you don't want to. This'll just be our little secret. But I'm guessing it has something to do with your 'greatest discovery'?"

"When did I tell you about that?!"

"Months ago, we were bonding, I snuck in a little booze, you spilled a bit. Information and booze. So, Gamma radiation, huh?"

"Tony, please!" Bruce cried. He looked terrified and more than a little stressed. "Can we not- you know… talk about it here?"

"Talk about it? About your mad scientist bout with Gamma beam!" Tony raised his voice on the last bit. "Look, no one here cares. But if you want to let me know, mad scientist to mad scientist, ring me up." He made a telephone with his hand. Then he walked away.

"See you later buddy!"

* * *

Steve and Thor came a bit later, on a bus. The first to step out was Steve. Tony and Clint ran over to him. Bruce waved from afar.

"Steve! Captain America! How you doing?" Tony said. Steve blushed.

"You need to stop calling me that." It turned out that our boy Steve was a secret fanboy of that semi-mythological hero from the forties, Isaiah Bradley aka Captain America. So Tony had taken to teasing the skinny boy with the heart of gold by calling him that. He was pretty sure Steve was actually thrilled to be likened to his hero.

"Hey Steve, how's the famous Bucky Barnes?" asked Clint. They had heard so much about the man during basic training that it was like they knew him. Tony had often rolled his eyes and suggested that Steve just marry him already.

Steve's expression became downcast. "Actually... we got the news last week. He's MIA. We don't know what's happened..." The concern on his face was heart-breaking.

Tony gave him a pat on the back. "I'm sure he's alright." God, where was Thor? The mood definitely needed to be lightened here, and no one could bring the cheer like him.

Thor did not bring the cheer when he arrived. He stepped out of the parking lot and got a lot grimmer. He looked awful, his eyes were red and had bags under them, and his face was pale and sloppily shaved. He looked like he hadn't gotten any sleep since he had graduated.

"Dude, are you okay? You look awful" Clint said.

Thor attempted to smile. "Thanks, but I'm fine. My buddies up north threw a wild going-away party last night. I'm still hung-over." Thor was a worse liar than Bruce. He said replied with such a lack of conviction none of them believed a word. Plus, he was only 19 and Tony knew it. The kid couldn't legally drink yet, and judging by the picture Thor painted of his old man, his dad probably wouldn't let him.

But before Tony could call him out on this, they were called over by an annoyed Coulson to get ready for departure.

* * *

 **This chapter was written by me, Sage, and edited by Rasi10.**


	4. Chapter 4

**Hey everybody, I can't believe it! I actually updated a story of mine quickly! Thank you Jase0901 and pearlfoot for following and favoriting!**

 **This chapter was written by Rasi10 and edited by me, Sage Nicholson.**

* * *

The long journey to Afghanistan was tense. Nobody talked much apart from Tony and Clint, who were engaging in small talk. Occasionally they tried to bring the other 3 into their conversation, but Steve was mopping around and Thor just exuded melancholia, far removed from his usual, talkative, cheery self. Bruce spent the entire plane ride trying to sleep, but he could never quite relax. Flying, he said, made him nervous.

Soon, they had reached Afghanistan and they were sent to the main camp along with their Sergeant for their first ever tour. Naturally, they were nervous. Thor and Steve put aside whatever their personal issues were to temporarily concentrate on Coulson's briefing. Basically, this mountainous region was pretty quiet. The camp they were staying at was large, and while everyone should be prepared for combat, this was an easy assignment and they shouldn't worry too much.

The soldiers from the other squads, who'd been stationed there much longer, didn't think so. "There is this group, likes to call itself the Ten Rings. They're very vicious, like guerrilla warriors, you know, staying hidden and known for catching others unaware. Most of the time, they are only armed with guns but the villages and outposts they attack are completely abandoned and burned to the ground by the time we arrive. These guys hang out in the mountains just a few _klicks_ away, where we can't find them. They haven't got any artillery but they fight real dirty." said Hank, a grizzled older vet.

"Yeah. There are rumors last scouting group, the 107th, has unfortunately fallen into their hands. I sure hope not, because whoever is captured, never returns. Too bad. They were pretty cheerful and friendly, and in this dull place any levity is welcome." another soldier, Peter, added. Steve paled and excused himself.

When he didn't show up at lunch, the rest of the unit went to look for him. They found him in the tent, eyes red from crying. "What happened Steve? What's eating you up?" Bruce asked softly. "Bucky was part of the 107th. And now I hear he's been captured, and he may never come back..." Steve trailed off, sobbing.

"Don't worry Steve, we will get him back. I promise you that. Now that we're all here, we can fix this. We will bring him back to you so that you can profess your love to him." Tony said, trying to get a smile out of him and succeeded when he got out a watery smile out of him.

"We're going to kick those ***holes butts and bring back Bucky, you hear me Steve?" Clint asked. Steve nodded and pulled him into a grateful hug. The others soon followed suit. They were a team. A family. They'd be there for each other.

A week after Steve's breakdown, Thor, who has been uncharacteristically quiet and grim, accidentally left a letter out which Tony happens to notice in the passing. Curious as to who had left open the letter, he sat down to identify whose it was so that no one else would chance upon it. But curiosity soon came over him and he read the whole letter till the end, even though he felt he was invading Thor's privacy.

 _Dear Helen,_

 _We all need your help desperately as it is a crucial time **.** Everything over here is going to the drains after mom died. Father's health has gotten worse and is not coping as well as we hoped. Lucas... he is a different story. He has become moody and distant and gets into more fights than ever before. Teachers say that he has been skipping classes and suspects that he has fallen into the bad crowd and I can't take care of everything at home as I've been deported. We need you Helen._

He decided to keep silent about his new discovery but at the same time, he tried to get Thor to share something about what is troubling him, even though there was little to no success. Tony still tried to be there for Thor, just sitting beside him whenever he felt very low and Thor slowly started to open up about his problems, like how his mother had passed away recently and his father was sick but he never went into detail. Even though it was vague, Tony considered it a win, as after venting to Tony Thor as always a little less moody.

The team got more nervous as reports of actual action in surrounding camps grew more and more frequent. They were novices right now and all the stories they had heard from the seniors scared them a lot, but they tried to cover it up by cracking jokes and pulling pranks, just keeping distracted and avoiding the dread of anticipation.

But it all went downhill at the end of week two. The team, along with Coulson were doing patrol at camp while some of the more experienced units were out scouting. Suddenly, there were sounds of shouting and gunfire, startling those inside the base. They ran in all directions to get to their weapons.

"Enemy jeeps are coming sir! They've got light artillary!" Clint shouted out to Coulson. "Alright people! Group up right now! Pietro, Drax, Ivan, Clint, Thor and Tony, try to take down how many ever soldiers you can. Steve and Bruce, you are on standby, help wherever you can. Get moving!" Coulson shouted over the gunfire.

"Tony move out of the way!" Clint shouted as he saw a bomb hurled towards the place Tony was standing, but it was too late. By the time Clint had noticed the bomb thrown at the camp, just near the place Tony was, it was near to blast and Tony was directly hit by the impact and the shrapnel from the bomb hit him head on.

"Shit!" Tony muttered as the searing pain in his chest spread throughout his body. He could hear someone calling him but he felt himself slowly fading out to everything around him and then, all he could see was black.

* * *

 **Dun dun dun! Cliffhanger! My favorite way of ending chapters!**


	5. Chapter 5

When Tony woke up, he found himself lying on a lumpy rock of a bed and moaned. Steve and Bruce stared anxiously down at him.

"Tony? Tony! Bruce, I think he's lucid!" Bruce tried to check Tony's eye, but Tony swatted him away.

"Get off!" he grumbled.

Bruce sighed with relief and turned to Steve. "He-he's stable."

Every muscle in Tony's body felt like it had gone into rigor mortis. His head was pounding and ringing, but worst of all, his chest felt like a giant boulder was pressing down on it. He couldn't breath. It hurt so much. He tried to claw at his chest, but his hand felt something metal. He tried to sit up to see it better, but Bruce gently pushed him down.

"Tony, please. You need to stay still."

Tony began to panic. What was happening?! Where was he?! What was on his chest?! It felt like it was crushing his heart! Get it off! He breathed faster and faster until he began to hyperventilate. "Help!" he croaked out.

Steve took his hand and began to rub it gently. "It's okay," he murmured in a calm, soothing voice. "Everything will be okay. Just breath in, breath out. There you go. In. Out." Tony followed his instructions and began to relax. He felt so tired... He closed his eyes, just for a second...

And woke up again much later, much more alert. He heard loud, arguing voices and elected to act like he was still asleep.

"ډمیټ! You stall too long. This man _will_ work as promised by you, and he will now!" The voice was harsh and guttural, with a heavy accent and less than fantastic English.

"General, Private Stark is not fit for work in this condition. He needs to heal, otherwise he will be of no use to you." This calm voice was much more familiar. Sergeant Coulson.

"He is no use now!"

"General, please, just a few more days. He will be better than, I promise."

There was a long pause. The sound of safeties clicking on guns. Tony could practically see Coulson's stony glare.

"Two days." the general finally responded. "You have 48 hours." Heavy footsteps. A sigh of relief. Tony opened his eyes.

"Sarge?" He couldn't see much from his position, but the ceiling above him looked dark and rocky. Where was he?

Coulson walked over. He looked awful. Gaunt and tired and sloppily dressed. Coulson was never sloppily dressed.

"Tony. How are you feeling?"

"Like crap. What the hell is going on?"

Coulson didn't answer. He closed his eyes, bracing himself for what came next.

"Tony... we were ambushed by the Ten Rings. They took us. You were injured by shrapnel." he looked at Tony's chest and winced. "Badly injured."

Tony followed his gain down and cried out in terror. His chest was a bloody, bandaged mess, but right in the throbbing center where his heart should have been a huge piece was cut out. Two clamps where attached inside a metal ring which had been inserted, hooking him up to an old car battery.

"Oh God! Oh my God what is that?!"

"I convinced the terrorists' leader, General Raza to let Bruce save you. The shrapnel was headed towards your heart, you would have died of blockage within hours, but Bruce used the electromagnetic pulses this contraption creates to keep them at bay."

"Bruce. Where is Bruce." Who else had been injured in the fighting? Who had been killed...?

"Out working now, with the others. They're all alright, Steve, Clint, Thor. But the other squads stationed here..." Coulson didn't finish. He didn't need to.

* * *

The days Tony spent bedridden seemed like a miserable eternity, spent staring at the dark cell and reflecting on his inevitable death. He was never getting out of here, he knew that. Just like the others. It seemed so unfair. They'd all had such bright lives ahead of them. Maybe they'd be saved. Maybe they'd be found and saved. He wasn't going to be saved. He was going to die down here. He missed his mom. And his dad. And Rhodey, and Pepper... oh God, Pepper. He never said goodbye. He'd seen the torment Steve had gone through over his missing Bucky. He couldn't bear the thought of his loved experiencing the same.

He was almost relieved when, after his strength was regained, his captors immediately dragged him to a room full of various mechanical parts and demanded he started working. It kept his mind off of such macabre ideas. Building the weapons was a challenge for a man who had previously worked with little more than a computer blueprint, but stealthily disassembling them, and inventing new technical jargon terms to tell General Raza in order to explain to him the reason behind his slow progress was like the most intense improv class he'd ever taken in his life.

At first, he was returned to his private sick bed after his long days, days which were growing increasingly longer as his health returned. Until one night, when he returned with his armed escort, they ordered him to pack up (pack up what? All he had were the clothes on his back, a cup, and a thin blanket!). Then they dragged him deeper down into the tunnels (or maybe not, this place was like a maize), and shoved him into a room full of men. He stumbled and almost fell, but strong arms caught him. He didn't recognize the bearded fellow at first.

"Tony! You're alive!" that voice, and the bear hug that followed, were unmistakably Thor.

"Good to see you too." he muttered, relieved to see he was in good condition. More reunions followed, Clint and Bruce and Sarge, all of them crowding around him, asking questions and voicing their relief at his wellbeing. It was overwhelming, not to mention somewhat heartbreaking, knowing their immense joy was because of how many hadn't made it. Despite their smiles, the misery on their faces was plain to see.

"Hey, give him some space," a voice called out from the back. Steve. He was just a tired and unhealthy looking as the others, moreso in fact, no doubt because of his already weakened state, but her seemed... happier, somehow. The answer to this mystery was standing close by him, shaggy brown hair, mournful, deepset eyes, and a smile Tony had seen in many a photograph. Bucky Barnes, the missing friend, not so missing anymore.


End file.
